1100 hrs USS Pensacola observed afire from shore bombardment off east end of Iwo.

During the above action I was covered by steel helmet and hunkered down behind bridge protective plating (all 1/2").

Submitted by Donald R. Johnson

1944

2006

Donald R. Johnson (Roger) and his wife Lorraine live in Bemidji.
MN. They were married in the chapel on Treasure Island on 8 July
1944. Their first of three children, Rebecca, was born on April
6, 1945 while Roger was embarked in USS Estes in the Western
Pacific. They have had two other children since that time; Vicki
Lynn Johnson of Duluth, MN and Bud Johnson of Sedona, AZ.

Dear Shipmates:

My uncle is Donald R. (Bud) Johnson. His picture appears on the 1945 page of your
web site.
He passed away in his home in Bemidji, MN yesterday afternoon (Nov. 6, 2008). He
was 87. He talked often of his service in USS Estes and displayed the Radio
Tech Gang – May 26, 1945 photo with great pride in his home.

(He is crouching on the work bench forth from the right.) Thought you should
know so you can update the site with that information.

I guess there is just so much that can be done with the ship itself,
though I see from the pictures that there were a lot of changes in the
original radar. We had an SG-1 surface search radar on the forward,
starboard kingpost and another on the center patform,
along with an SK, bedspring, air search radar, and a height finder
antenna on the aft, starboard kingpost. I climbed all of them many times.
Our SK air search radar went down the night before we went into
Iwo Jima and I spent all night getting it back up.
Fortunately everything was operational when we closed on the island
that morning..

Something else that you may already have considered.
The Estes is mentioned in a number of books about WW II.
One that comes to mind is "Iwo Jima" by Richard Newcomb.
They are just brief references but should be of interest to anyone
who was there.

If you can find a description of the action when the frogmen went
in to clear the underwater obstructions off the landing beaches
and the shore batteries opened up on them, it would make interesting
reading. The Navy lost sailors there. The Estes took casualties
aboard and the corridor outside the hospital area literally
ran red with blood. There were stretchers in the passageways of
officers' country with bodies waiting for burial at sea.

Oddly enough, after the war, I discovered that a fellow college
student was one of those frogmen who survived.

The same book describes the night the Bismark Sea went down.
We could see one glow on the horizon, where she was burning,
and another glow where the Saratoga was burning. The Saratoga
had planes up with nowhere to land but eventually got her fires
under control and sent out a spine chilling message that the
Saratoga was ready to land her aircraft. In spite of the fact
that it made her a target for any Jap planes that were still
in the area, the Saratoga lit up and landed her aircraft.
There were a a number of pilots up there who breathed easier when
they realized that they would not have to ditch in the sea after all.

These incidents did not involve the Estes directly but everyone
was in the soup together and there was a lot of shared
empathy at the time.

It probably was the same "ET Shop".
At that time, the ET rating was relatively new to the Navy.
Most of the ET's aboard were involved with maintaining the radio
transmitters, receivers, teletype, multiplexing and other
communications equipment of the ship. Bruce Lawrence and I were
responsible for maintaining all the radar equipment, except for the
fire control radar that was maintained by the gunnery department.
However, administratively, all the ET's were in the same department.
I may be misremembering but all I recall it being called among the ET's
was "the shop". I quess other crew members thought of it as the ET (or radio) shop.

As I remember, there were doors on the opposite
ends of the shop. As you entered one of these doors, to the right there
was a small, closed off room in which the morely highly classified
equipment was worked on.

On 2 November ESTES took leave of Manila and set course for Shanghai to
become the flagship of ADM Thomas C. Kincaid, USN, Commander Seventh
Fleet, breaking his flag 7 November.
At the same time, RADM Davis transfered his staff to USS ROCKY MOUNT
(AGC-3).
On 19 November ADM Kincaid left the ship and VADM D.E. Barbey, USN,
shifted his flag to ESTES.

I was stationed with
the pictured Neil Opstad in 1958-59 Japan. He was near retirement as a
CPO & I was an E-8 (Senior CPO) at Fleet Weather Central Yokosuka Japan.
He was on my shift & it felt funny who was a Navy weatherman when I was
a Junior in HS. After retirement he lived in various places in Europe
with his Swedish wife Inga. He was in Southern Spain when I was assigned
to Fleet Weather central Rota Spain & we playerd golf together a few
times. When I got out we corresponded a bit, sent him a pkg of paper
back books he wanted & after a month or so Inga wrote saying that he had
passed away. Strange coincidence JR Cutter (62 ZLDO LT, Met Officer on
Estes just called (interrupting me on this msg) & he commented that
Opstad had been commissioned (prob the 18 1/2 yr EMs (1st & Chief) to Jg
program) but reverted to Chief when passed over for Lcdr. Att picture
Neil in middle me to his right at Inspection.

Frank Baillie

Frank Baillie 1948-52 - Lt - Submitted 9/11/08

PhibGru-5 Weather Unit 15 May 1945

Frank

Submitted by Thomas DeBenedetto for John DeBenedetto

John J. DeBenedetto 1944-1946 - - Submitted 2/1/12

My Dad, John J. DeBenedetto, served on the USS Estes in World War II in
1944 and 1945. He passed away on Jan 25, 2008 at the age of 88.

I have scanned many of the items from his scrapbook.

Thank you,
Tom DeBenedetto

Life Aboard Ship

Division Photo

Division Photo

Prayer Service

Division Photo

Division Photo

Ship's Party

Religious Services

Religious Services

Panay, PISeptember 2, 1945

Surrender of Japanese Soldiers

Surrender of Japanese Soldiers

Surrender of Japanese Soldiers

Sunken Ship

Sampan

Sunken Ship

Sunken Ship

Pier

Sunken Ship

Sunken Ship

Manila Bay, PISeptember 29, 1945

Manila Observatory Ruins

Unknown Church
Manila, PI

Central Hotel

San Sebastian Church
Manila, PI

Cannon

Unknown Building

Unknown Building

Unknown Building

Unknown Building

First AnniversaryOctober 9, 1945

First Anniversary History

First Anniversary History

First Year Itinerary

Navy Day - 1945

Thanksgiving 1945

Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving Menu

November 27, 1945Shanghai, China

HMS Belfast

HMS Belfast

USS St. Paul - CA-73

Garden Bridge, Shanghai

Chinese Junk

Chinese Post Office

Nanking Road, Shanghai

Nanking Road, Shanghai

Nanking Road, Shanghai

Customs House & M&S Bank Building, Shanghai

Embankment Building, Shanghai

Grosvenor House, Shanghai

Lung Wha Pagoda, Shanghai

The Foochow Road, Shanghai

Nanking Road, Shanghai

Nanking Road, Shanghai

Park Hotel, Shanghai

The Race Course, Shanghai

USS General Scott AP-136

Chinese Junk

Shanghai at Night

Death of President Roosevelt

News of Roosevelt's Death

Roosevelt Memorial Service

Homeward Bound

Honorable Discharge

Men on Pier

Submitted by Daniel R. O'Connell for Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell 1944-1945 - - Submitted 12/26/12

Please add my Dad's name to your shipmates list for the USS Estes.
Daniel O'Connell - served under Admiral Blandy, 1944 - 45, from
commissioning until after the second visit to the Philippines in late
45. He first boarded the Estes at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in October
1944.

Dad was from Brooklyn, NY and trained at Great Lakes.

I believe he was a plank owner, having served on her first tour, and was
aboard at both Iwo Jima & Okinawa.

He piped ashore October 13, 1987.

He would frequently tell us of his days on the Estes, and after the war
on the Salerno Bay, CVE 110.

He left the navy in 1947, married my mom in 50, and moved to Connecticut
in 55. Mom is still aboard, but seems to have misplaced the few
pictures I remember him having from the war.

I have attached one picture I have - he is the forth from the right in
the top row. I also attached a copy of their itinerary from 44 - 45.

Thank you,
Daniel O'Connell (son)

Daniel O'Connell
Top Row - 4th from Right

USS Estes Itinerary Oct 1944 - Oct 1945

Submitted by Matthew Thibeault for Joseph Thibeault

Joseph Thibeault 1945 - - Submitted 11/14/12

Hello,

The first picture is of my grandfather, Joseph Thibeault who was on
board in 1945. I'm not sure where the photo was taken. The second
picture I think is off Iwo Jima? My grandfather died on March 20th,
1990. I miss him terrible.

Thought you might want these.
Matthew Thibeault

Joseph Thibeault

Working in LCVP

Submitted by Mark Miranda for Robert Anthony Miranda

Robert Anthony Miranda 1945 - - Submitted 5/22/14

Birth: 13 Nov,1926 in Brooklyn New York
Death: 22 May,2011 in Suffolk County, New York, USA

Mark Miranda

Send any photos of the Estes, or life and times while aboard.

We prefer digital images, but can accept original photographs or documents. Originals will be returned unless you indicate otherwise. We will make our best efforts in returning things safely, since we use public carriers to return items, i.e. US Postal Service, we cannot guarantee safe returns. We would feel more comfortable if you had items scanned into digital images.